MU2801 – Making Music with Machines (A20)

Cristian Gallardo, Cait Schroeder, Robbie Starr, and Aaron Waldman

Glass Vibes is composed of an array of 5 wine glasses aound a microcontroller. These wine glasses are housed in 3D printed bases and lit from beneath by RGB LEDs. This machine shows the average person that something they find in their kitchen can be part of or a tool to a musical machine. You can create a song in your home with family by playing around with liquid levels in glasses and striking them with different materials at different heights. It is a machine that will provide delight to those who smile wide at the clinking of glasses at dinner parties.

The system can function entirely by itself, as we can compose pieces in Ableton in advance and then the machine will play them autonomously. However, we can also change the piece on the fly by clicking on different loops within Ableton, so the machine is responsive as well. For display, Glass Vibes plays Jingle Bells and Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Jingle Bells:

Mary Had a Little Lamb:

CAD Modeling

The servo motors were raised up to the bowl of the wine glass by a 3D printed base, which can be seen here:

Each wine glass would also have been supported by a 3D printed base, which raised the glass enough such that the knife striking the glass would have contacted the widest part of the glass. These bases can be seen here:

Electronics

Each Servo is controlled by an Arduino Mega PWM pin, and each LED is controlled by a digital pin. The Arduino takes in serial data from Ableton and decides which servo/LED pair to actuate based on the note received from Ableton.